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Monday, December 20th, 2010

Supreme Court Becoming a Tool for Corporate Interests: Study

Author:     DANIEL TENCER
Source:     The Raw Story
Publication Date:     Sunday, December 19th, 2010 -- 4:58 pm
 Link: Supreme Court Becoming a Tool for Corporate Interests: Study
Stephan:   We have the most activist Supreme Court in memory. There is no precedent within the past century anyway for such activism from the bench -- except for the slight comparison with William O. Douglas' ecological interests -- particularly for the blatant bias of Thomas, Scalia, and Roberts. A case could be made that historians will date the final demise of true representative democracy in the U.S. from the Citizens United decision, an iconic piece of judicial activism.

Court now sides with Chamber of Commerce two-thirds of the time

Those who have been arguing that the Supreme Court is growing more friendly to corporate interests while becoming less friendly to everyone else will now have statistical ammunition for their arguments.

A study has found that the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has undergone a fundamental shift in its outlook, ruling in favor of businesses much more often than previous courts.

According to the Northwestern University study, commissioned for the New York Times, the Roberts court has sided with business interests in 61 percent of relevant cases, compared to 46 percent in the last five years of Chief Justice William Rhenquist, who passed away in 2005.

And the study notes the Rhenquist court itself was considerably more pro-business than earlier courts.

Meanwhile, a second study, from the Constitutional Accountability Center, has charted the growing influence of the US Chamber of Commerce on the courts. The chamber started filing amicus briefs with the top court three decades ago in an effort to prompt more business-friendly rulings.

According to the study, the Roberts Supreme Court has sided with the Chamber 68 percent of the time, up from 56 percent under the Rhenquist court, and noticeably […]

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